THE chief executive of HBOS has spent more than £400,000 on shares in the rumour-hit bank in the hope of bolstering its standing in the City.
Andy Hornby led a group of 250 senior managers and directors in spending more than £6 million buying 1.4 million shares in Britain's largest mortgage lender after it was rocked by "lies and malicious rumours" started by City rogue traders last wee
k.
The Edinburgh-based bank revealed yesterday that Mr Hornby and his colleagues invested in the shares last Thursday, the day after the bank was forced to deny rumours that it was in financial difficulty.
Shane O'Riordain, a spokesman for HBOS, said: "This is a straightforward demonstration of the confidence our senior managers have in the group. HBOS is a very strong business."
The shares were bought out of bonuses given for the staff members' performance last year.
They were bought on Thursday morning, when the share price had recovered most of its value after the announcement of an investigation by the Financial Services Authority into alleged short selling.
It is hoped the move will further bolster the price when the London markets reopen tomorrow after the Easter holiday.
HBOS has always encouraged senior staff to hold substantial numbers of shares in the firm. Its executives now have between three and four times their annual salary worth of shares – higher than the stake that executives in most other UK banks have in their companies.
The full article contains 256 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
